Sometimes I wonder if I was born on the right planet.

Seriously WTF is going on?

I am watching the UK government tear the NHS apart to make it more like the United States system.
I then watch what the US government is doing to their system, and wonder whether this is not only of the beginning of the end of the NHS, but also the start of something much much more frightening?

I Am A Feminist.

I am a Feminist. I will put my hand up and shout loudly that I AM A FEMINIST. I am getting more and more pissed off with the continual attempt to make Feminism out to be something it isn't, and that any one who considers themselves to be Feminist is somehow a misandric sociopath.


WHY I AM A FEMINIST:

 * I have automatic and autonomous rights to my own reproductive system and sexual behaviour.

 * I have the same right to work, earn money, save money, spend money as any other individual, irrespective of their gender. If I am have the same experience and qualification, am doing the same work at the same level of competence, then I have the right to the same pay.

 *I also have the right to choose a more traditionally viewed way of life, to stay at home and raise my children. However, this right is also not dependent on my gender and is a role that any parent should be able to choose, rather than have to make a decision purely based on economics.

 * I believe that sex is a natural part of healthy life, that has been trivialised and demeaned to a state where it is used a commodity to subjugate society into behaving in particular ways.

 * I believe that raising healthy, independent children is one of the most important things that human beings can achieve, but there is no BEST way of doing this, and the hetero-normative view of Married, Female Mother and Male Father is not always the best way of achieving this.

 * I believe that all people are equal, and this equality is not defined by gender, sexuality, religion, race or any other such definition. I do also accept that equality does not mean that every one is the same, and should be treated as such. Every person will have different needs or have different limitations, just that no one person is worth more than someone else.

I could elaborate more on these points, and add more, but I think at this time, this encompasses the most salient points of my Feminism.

More Links to my Feminism:
http://hystericaljugglings.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-would-you-call-it-then.html
http://hystericaljugglings.blogspot.com/2009/03/froyw.html http://hystericaljugglings.blogspot.com/2008/10/pro-choice-does-not-equal-pro-abortion.html
http://hystericaljugglings.blogspot.com/2008/09/quick-simple-post.html
http://hystericaljugglings.blogspot.com/2008/09/fertility-at-any-cost.html
http://hystericaljugglings.blogspot.com/2008/09/feminism-for-all.html
http://hystericaljugglings.blogspot.com/2009/03/patriarchy-hurts-men-too.html

Generation X,Y and Z. The End Of Days...

Society has become obsessed with Consuming. Your own personal worth is dictated by the things that you have. Not what you know, or what you do, but what you have. We must all Live to Work, to create money to get the stuff we want, and to make ever increasing profit. If you don't have things, or show off the things that you have, then you have no social status or standing amongst your peers.

If you have children, you must give them stuff to show them how much you love them and how important they are. The more expensive the better. It doesn't matter that you may put yourself in debt, your children will just see that as a sign of how important and loved they are. Things equal attention, affection and love.

We are told on a daily basis that we must consume more, have more, we need more, we are lacking without, in fact we are worse than that, we are somehow less, meaningless, not worthy if we do not have the things we are told we want.

We watch governments, professional politicians taking money away from us, with no return. We see big business evading taxes, putting prices up and making profit off of us. We see the banks, taking money from us, then us again through the government bailouts and then again through government taxes with no return.

We live in a society based on Greed. So why are we surprised when people who see these big businesses, government, banks and professional politicians taking from us indiscriminately, start to do it themselves?

Why is it right for them and wrong for the others? The answer is that it isn't right for ANYONE to take from others. Whether it be a politician fiddling his/her expenses, big business evading taxes and profiteering from us, or masked looters smashing in windows of JD Sports. IT IS ALL FUCKING WRONG!!!


TO BE CONTINUED...

Sorta Rape, Not Real Rape... (Warning...possible triggers.)

There has been a lot in the press this week stemming from comments made by a couple of Conservative MPs (and one MEP.)

Firstly Nadine Dorries introduced the Bill, that if passed would mean that girls between the ages of 11-15 would have lessons in sexual abstinance. Just girls, mind you. Not boys... Guardian article on the Bill

Then in a television interview, she came out with, I quote;
“If a stronger ‘just say no’ message was given to children, there might be an impact on sex abuse. A lot of girls, when abuse takes place, don’t realise until later that that was wrong because sex is so common in society."

Later that same week, Ken Clarke came out with comments that could be construed as meaning that some rapes are somehow less than other. He did try to clarify what he meant, but still managed to show his little understanding of what he was talking about in the first place. Ken Clark Clarifies?

He was then defended by the MEP, Roger Helmer, who definitely feels some rape is worse than other rape. "Women share some of the responsibilty"

Let's just say it's been a bad week for Tory politicians opening their mouths without thought, but also a bad week for us all when we look at these views in a broader perspective.

Nadine Dorries...WTF? Seriously? My mind cannot comprehend that a modern woman would come out with this claptrap. But when you take on board her religious and political beliefs (Fundie and very RightWing) it all becomes clear. I really don't even have to pull her ideas apart to show how ridiculous they are. But unfortunately, there are those that while agree that her Bill for single sex abstinance education is ridiculous fail to see how those ideas translate into the comments that her male colleagues make later in the week.

If we are teaching young girls that they must hold ALL sexual responsibility, as women, they STILL must hold that responsibility at all times, and if they are raped, then somehow it must be their fault. Your clothing, your attitude, your whereabouts, your alcohol consumption are all questioned in an attempt to show how a woman's actions contribute to her rape. And if you happen to be raped by someone you know (the majority of all rapes) then all of that, AND your sexual history is taken into account.

Dorries' comments that “If a stronger ‘just say no’ message was given to children, there might be an impact on sex abuse. A lot of girls, when abuse takes place, don’t realise until later that that was wrong because sex is so common in society."

Because when a sexual predator is about to abuse someone, saying no always stops them...What? You mean it doesn't?

Abuse isn't about sex. Like rape, abuse is about POWER! The power of one person over another!

I know I will be preaching to the converted here, but rape and abuse is about violent power over another. It isn't just about sex, or sexual gratification, it has a whole load of other nasties wrapped up along with it.

But the bottom line is, if a woman or man says they don't want to have sex at ANY point of the act, they have that right, and whoever they are with MUST STOP NO MATTER WHAT!

It infantalises and demeans men when the notion that they are somehow incapable of stopping having sex at any given moment is put forward as an excuse, and that when they have an erection or intercourse, that their minds switch off entirely and they become little more than drooling sexual automatons.

On a very personal note, I will share some of my more nasty sexual experiences...(Possible Trigger Alert)

The first time I had sex. I was sixteen, a bit of a social klutz, and generally a bit of a emo teenage mess. I was unsure if I wanted to do anything, but found myself led along and plied with alcohol, so when I really did want to stop, it didn't happen. I "changed my mind" at the last moment, so I know that I fall into that catagory of "it's not proper rape", but imho he had the power, he didn't stop when I wanted him to, and while I don't feel I have any long lasting damage from the event, it still means the first time I had sex is not something I feel fondly about.

I once met someone and went on a few dates with him. He was quite a bit older than me (at Uni while I was still at school.) He was nice enough, and then one Saturday morning, I met him at his digs thinking we were going to go out. As I turned up, his housemates were leaving. He was still in a dressing gown. To cut a long story short, I spent most my time trying to fend off his advances, to stop him trying to "persuade" me to go upstairs with me, and it ended with me managing to get out of the house. (Thank the Gods it wasn't locked.) and ran to a friend's house around the corner. At her house, I managed to rearrange my clothes and refasten my bra that he had managed to undo. Was this a sexual assault? Probably. Did I tell anyone other than my friends? No. Did I think I was an idiot for getting myself into that situation? Yes. However, I didn't ask for any of it, I wasn't expecting it, and why should he have thought he could get into knickers just because he felt like it.

On more than one occasion, I have had my hand forced down someone's trousers to get them off. Even to the point, that the young man in question didn't want me, he wanted my friend, but when I went out of the party to tell him that, he felt he would make do with me instead...

I have lost count of the times I have had my breasts groped and poked by men thinking that because I have spoken to them, maybe even kissed them, that I was "up for it".

It doesn't happen anymore. I am older and wiser and know how not to get myself into those situations. (Or as some arse would say, I am fatter and uglier now...a whole different issue in itself).

I never reported or told anyone (who could/would do anything about them) about these incidents, but I can guarantee that every woman out there probably has similar tales. Does this mean we were all asking for it?

A-Z of why these cuts are mad

We are going to hammered with some serious cuts to public spending. Basically the government is using our tax money to pay back our tax money that was used to bail out the banks when they screwed us over so monumentally. So we are having our money taken from us, to pay back the money that was taken from us...

INFORMATION FROM HERE...

a) the biggest waste in our economy is unemployment not spending
b) we’ve lower debt:GDP than most EU/G8 nations
c) the money is owed to us
d) the payoff on public services’s > our loan interest
e) Italy’s credit rating is far below ours but they only pay slightly more interest
f) where else will bond markets lend?
g) how can we have export led growth as the EU collapses
h) why is growth meant to be led by the banks?
i) raising the personal allowance gives more to the rich than the poor
j) VAT is the most regressive tax
k) what happened to green investment?
l) WTF is this I hear about first children only?
m) scrapping child trust funds while promising cuts to inheritance tax is fair?
n) cutting jobs hits the poor first (are you listening @guardian?)
o) we still remember you cut uni places – crushing a generation’s hopes
p) universities have the biggest jobs multiplier of anything, so cutting their funding is the thing most likely to cause a double dip
q) Tories have always opposed proper funding for public services
r) the long term economic costs of the human strife of austerity are huge
r) the deficit has already naturally dropped by more than Osborne said he wanted it to this year, & will half by 2015
s) taxes on the top take fewer jobs away
t) it took decades to build the public services he wants to ruin
u) the economists against this tend to be those who predicted this mess
v) what’s the point of a triple A rating if you can’t borrow in a 100 year recession?
w) our loans are very long term
x) we have big assets
y) the richest 1000 people have seen their wealth increase by 30% in a year – half the value of the deficit
z) Osborne is trying to save the economy by destroying the economy. That’s as crazy as it sounds. That is all

Uncomfortable posting.

But I am gonna have to say this.

The oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a tragic, awful, indescribable horror. And BP should be held accountable, should be making more effort to clear up this catastrophic mess. We all, as citizens of this planet should be doing all we can to help out.

The US government is right in saying that BP should be held accountable and set money aside to deal with this.

However.

I have one word to say.

Bhopal.


That said, I don't blame the US people that a US company caused such devastation on foreign soil.

ConDemned

It looks like the Liberal Democrats are going to make a coalition government with the Conservatives. My title for my previous post seems very apt. We are being Hung Out To Dry.

I can't imagine that there is a Liberal Democrat out there at grassroots level who actually wants this to happen. The only good thing that could possibly come out of this, is that the Tories will make a complete pigs ear out of it, and will be voted out again within a year. However, as much as that would be a good thing to happen, in the meantime the damage would have already been done. Both to this country and to the Liberal Democrats.

I CANNOT see how a Liberal Democrat can get into bed with a Conservative. Their political views are just so different from each other.

HUNG OUT TO DRY?

Okay, that was a pretty useless attempt at humour, but I actually don't know what to say, the United Kingdom has a Hung Parliment! BLOODY HELL! This is when no political party has an outright majority of seats to create a governnment. What usually happens is that an agreement is made with 2 parties to unite and create a coalition.

Basically, this means that the Liberal Democrats with either break a deal with the Conservatives, OR Labour to create a government...

I have no IDEA what this means for the UK.

The UK General Election

is 2 days away. I have absolutely no enthusiasm for it. That doesn't mean that I won't be voting, I definite will be. Unfortunately I have no enthusiam for who I will be voting for. It will be a tactical vote, made to help stop unwanted candidates from getting in.

What this election has done, is opened my eyes up to see there are things that I had previously realised, but have really become obvious in the last few months. I have always known that I must be wired differently for the majority of other people, but politics is the one area where that difference becomes very apparent.

My politics are Green, and I cannot get my head around the fact that there are people out there that don't believe in Climate Change, don't realise that the Environmental issues are probably going to be the most important factors for EVERYONE in the next 100 years. I don't understand those that think the Economy can grow and grow, and we became richer and richer, consume more and more, and it not have any kind of impact? What planet are these people living on?

I am sick of short-term knee-jerk politics where politicians and big business look only to line their own pockets and never see further into the future to see what impact their policies have on our lives.

I do not understand people who blame economic downturns on a particular type of people. We are not in a recession because we have too many immigrants, or because the politicians took liberties with their finances, we are in the shits because the b(w)ankers took the royal piss out of us all, took our money, lost it, and then expected us to give them more of it, without ever giving it back. Yes, politics should be clean and transparent, but you know what? So should fucking Banking! Give us our money back, you shitheads!

(My inner conspiracy theorist found it very interesting that the politicans' finances fraud neatly replaced the banking fiasco story. You know, the one where the banks lost BILLIONS of our money, compared to the politicians' smaller amount. Now I am not saying that the politicians shouldn't have been brought to book about what they did, but in the big picture, why wasn't more done about the b(w)ankers?)

I read the Green Party's Manifesto. It makes sense to me. But I wonder how many people out there have actually read the manifesto of the political party they are going to vote for.

Am I really so weird that I try to make informed decisions about things in my life? Am I really so odd that I can see the bigger picture and want to do something about it? Why am I wired so differently from so many other people?

*People I am friends with tend to also see the big picture and care about stuff, which is probably why I am friends with them in the first place. Just a shame most of them are only on the interwebz*

Shakira

I always knew she was made of awesome.

Climate Change

This isn't a big rant about stupid people and the denial of climate change, as that would just go on for too long.

However, I thought I would share this with you. Write a letter to your MP about Bangladesh and the effect Climate Change is having on the country - via FACEBOOK

I have done it, and if others could too, it would be fantastic. If you add a personal message to the C&P'd text, then it will get past their C&P filter. It is UK orientated, but it wouldn't take a lot to change to work for whatever country you come from.

"The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion"

"Abortion is a highly personal decision that many women are sure they'll never have to think about until they're suddenly faced with an unexpected pregnancy. But this can happen to anyone, including women who are strongly anti-choice. So what does an anti-choice woman do when she experiences an unwanted pregnancy herself? Often, she will grin and bear it, so to speak, but frequently, she opts for the solution she would deny to other women -- abortion.
In the spring of 2000, I collected the following anecdotes directly from abortion doctors and other clinic staff in North America, Australia, and Europe. The stories are presented in the providers' own words, with minor editing for grammar, clarity, and brevity. Names have been omitted to protect privacy."
"The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion"
When the Anti-Choice Choose
By Joyce Arthur Copyright © September, 2000



A friend of mine posted this on her LJ. I thought I would share it here too. So much for Galatians 5:14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." But then, this isn't often one of God's laws that people like these women actually follow. Hypocrites Much?

Sell the Vatican.

Torchwood - Children of Earth (MAJOR EPISODE 5 SPOLIERS)

Am I part of a small minority that didn't think that CofE was crap?

Traumatic, depressing, horrific, but not crap. (Major spoilers for Episode 5 to follow.)

Jack isn't the Doctor, he is only a man. He doesn't have the intelligence, the experience or the technological knowhow to defeat his enemies. Sometimes he has to use what he has available, even if it devastates him in the process.

And now matter how much it makes us cry, and how much we don't like it, nice people die. In horrible ways. In the very first episode of Torchwood it was stated that the average life expectancy of a Torchwood field officer isn't very long. They don't have the Doctor to protect them. So they die.

It was ADULT sci-fi at its best. Disturbing and thoughtprovoking. Which is what it was meant to do. If it upset you. It worked. If it made you cry. It worked. If it made you feel slightly ashamed of yourself. It worked. That's what decent BBC Drama should do.

The only parts of the series and episode 5 that I had issues with were these; I don't believe that the British military would have followed those orders. Those mums watching their kids being taken away would have ripped those soldiers heads off. And once the children saw how upset their parents and teachers were, would not have walked out so calmly. It would have been mass panic at the outset. And an AMERICAN GENERAL walking into the cabinet and taking over. It wouln't happen.

But Frobisher killing his family and then himself. Yes.

Jack sacrificing his grandson to save millions. Yes.

Torchwood as a series is for Grown Ups. Adult TV isn't just about sex and swearing. Its about getting us out of comfort zones, making us look at our demons and making us THINK.

So yeah, its shit and sad that Ianto died. It is horrific that Jack had to do that to his family. And it is really uncomfortable to easily able to envisage our current government doing EXACTLY the same thing "for the good of the people".

But I don't ever remember being told that Torchwood would have a Happy Ever After...

To The Royal British Legion

Hear, bloody hear!!!!!!

A Bad Thing

*Spits*

The BNP now have two MEPs!!!!!!

I am disgusted. I am disgusted at the stupidity and ignorance of the people that voted for them. I am sure that they would not have looked into the BNP's policies or past the shallow rhetoric saying what they think people want to hear.

The irony of it being the anniversary of the D-Day landings this weekend, and our country elects fascists to represent our country in Europe is just sad and horrifying beyond words.

Sometimes I have very little faith in humanity.

*sighs*

When you vote for a political party, do you expect to agree with every single policy that they have, or do you choose the party that is closest to your views?

I have heard from several people that they didn't vote Green because they disagreed with one or two of their policies. Huh? So you agree with every single policy of the party that you voted for? Really? Considering the alternatives that were available?

Realistically, if the Green party ever got in, it would probably drop some of their more contentious views. (Embryonic Stem Cell research, etc.) However, what it might mean is that there would be more discussion about the pros and cons of such research, rather than the current "well, you will do what we think is right!" attitudes which current and previous Governments have had.

Would you consider actually joining the party that shares most of your views, and actively try and work with them at changing policies? Or would that mean actually making an effort?

Why can't we stop being so apathetic about these things and actually do something?

VOTE GREEN

I am begging you, from the depths of my soul, VOTE GREEN!!!!!!!!!!

Why? Because they are the only ones with any idea of what problems we will be facing in the future. And they are the only ones with any sensible and practical ideas to solve them. We NEED them in positions of power in Europe. Not the Tories, New Labour, Lib Dems (I am sorry to say), the UKIP, or gods forbid the BNP.


THE GREEN MANIFESTO

READ IT! Even if you have no intention of voting Green, read it so at least you know what you don't like!

Quelle Surprise!? Ummm, non...

We all now that politicians are often sponging, grasping arseholes. Now we have the proof, thanks to the publication of all British MPs' expenses by the Daily Telegraph.

Don't get me wrong, it is disgusting that these people have made up their own salaries and own bonuses and own expenses and have basically sponged off the taxpayer for years, however at the moment this is all the media is talking about. And whilst very very embarrassing for the Government, I am pretty sure there is other newsworthy stuff going on in the world! I personally feel that we need to spend less time discussing how greedy these people have been, and more about sorting out the situation that let this happen in the first place. Why have we let our Government (that we elect and pay for) create a situation where they take and take and take with very little in return.

Our whole society is based on the principle that Profit is God. That making money is the only and most important thing to do, no matter what your job is. Every public sector service is now run with the view to making profit. (I have always wondered how you can make a monetary profit from the NHS and Education, but our Governments liked to have a damn good try!) So why are we so shocked that our politicians would be any better behaved. I KNOW they should be, but they ain't!

And while all this furore goes on, people lose faith in the main parties and look for alternatives. It would be nice to think that it was the Green Party and the likes they are turning to. But unfortunately, this probably isn't the case. Other parties who start saying what they think the public want to hear, with their hot air and false promises. I wonder how many seats the BNP (WILL NOT put a link to their website) will get, because their shameful comments about how they are the only party with the UK's wellbeing at heart, and their insidious blaming of every one who doesn't fit into their ideals.

I hope that British public will see that while the state of British politics is pretty shameful at the moment, to vote in the likes of the BNP will make things a thousand times worse.

Profit is God part 2

Gaia Sculpture - Oberon Zell

Post Earth Day thoughts...

I wonder what the state of the world would be in, if our "world leaders" had put the same kind of money into green fuels, averting climate change, etc etc that they have in their desperate efforts to save Capitalism as we know it?

It is so reassuring that the "people in charge" have the right priorities in mind. (That's sarcasm, btw.)